Post-Industrial Forum
A community for Visionary Builders and Transformational Leaders
creating the Organizations of the Future
The Post-Industrial Transition is here, and it’s Bumpy
Decentralization and AI are remaking the economy. But there are growing concerns about supply chains, geopolitics, and the workforce.
The industrial era brought unprecedented productivity, infrastructure, and material abundance, but it was built on centralization and top-down control. Today’s world is moving toward a post-industrial civilization, fueled by decentralization and exponential technologies.
Humanity now stands before extraordinary possibilities:
- AI-fueled super-productivity in all fields of human endeavor
- humanoid robots in homes and workplaces
- decentralized manufacturing everywhere
- breakthroughs in health and longevity
- sustainable energy solutions
- intelligent infrastructure
- autonomous vehicles
- off-world expansion
The challenge? Outdated mental models, legacy systems, fear of change, regulatory friction, and geopolitical fragmentation hold us back.
We need Visionary Builders to create new kinds of organizations,
and Transformational Leaders to remake existing ones from within.
Transformational Leaders
These are senior executives, including CEOs, CIOs, CHROs, CPOs, Chief Strategy Officers, Chief Transformation Officers, Chief AI Officers, and others tasked with transforming their organizations.
Their challenges include:
- Scouting new technologies, markets, and ideas
- Architecting and executing transformation strategies
- Rearchitecting supply chains and legacy infrastructure
- Leading workforce transformation and culture change
- Accelerating profitable growth amid greater uncertainty
- Navigating employee apprehension and resistance
- Developing an updated vision for an AI-enabled world
Visionary Builders
These are Founders and Intrapreneurs creating new ventures— outside or inside enterprises. They are building AI-first products and platforms, and developing innovative business models.
Their challenges include:
- Defining a unique vision in an AI-saturated world
- Competing for top-tier talent
- Minimizing hires for ops and sales through AI leverage
- Developing meaningful ecosystem partnerships
- Finding advisors who can actually help
- Fundraising in a saturated environment
- Building trust through authentic storytelling
Building a Bridge to the Future
The Post-Industrial Forum launched in London in 2019 and Silicon Valley in early 2020. Our goal is to accelerate the progress of leaders building the organizations of the future. We do this by sharing our research and helping members learn from one another:
Designed for Trust, Insight, and Action
Every session is built for time-starved leaders seeking deeper insight, actionable ideas, and practical tools. Formats include Discussion Forums, Panel Discussions, Workshops, Working Groups, and Roundtables—all curated for focus and value. We also host an annual Summit in Silicon Valley.
Curated Cross-Functional Participation
Members are selected for mandate, mindset, and momentum—not just job titles. Builders and Transformers learn from each other across boundaries—strategy, people, ops, product, and tech.
Speakers who Make a Difference
We regularly invite senior leaders to share what their organizations are doing and how new technologies are reshaping industries and enterprises.
Shared Language and Tools
Members gain access to frameworks for modeling and transforming industries and organizations.
Build Influence
Members have an opportunity to work together on the challenges they face and develop content that will be published with credit given.
Active Participation, Co-creating Solutions
Members gain strategies for framing their work, socializing new ideas, and building coalitions. Whether you are shaping a transformation narrative or developing a disruptive new business, we will give you tools to succeed.
Accumulating Insight
The Forum surfaces patterns across industries, firms, and functions. Over time we accumulate a body of shared knowledge that helps members see what’s emerging, what’s working, and where the frontier is moving.
Your Membership Includes:
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Quarterly Open Events
- open events are held in-person in Silicon Valley
- free to attend for members
- prospective members attend for a fee
- event recordings are made available to members
- panel discussion format
Annual Post-Industrial Summit
Members receive a 50% discount on tickets to the annual summit, which is held in Silicon Valley.
Our November 2024 Summit focused how AI Agents are transforming every aspect of enterprises. Members have access to recordings from the summit.
Workshops
Workshops focus on collaborative discussion and co-creation of insights and solutions for a hot topic. They are held in-person in Silicon Valley, but with remote participation also available.The outcome of workshops are shared among members.
Workshops are free for members and may be open to guest participants for a fee.
Working Groups
Working groups focus on topics of particular interest to members. They meet once a month in person (with remote participation) or online. Current working groups include:
- AI Agents
- Workforce Transformation
- Leading Change
All Working Groups have an online discussion forum for dialog between meetings.
Event Archives
Members have access to event archives going back to January 2020. Online and in-person events, including the annual Summit, are recorded and the recordings are made available
Roundtables
All members are assigned to roundtables of maximum twelve peers. These roundtables meet online or in-person once a quarter and serve as a sounding board for challenges.
Courses
Members will have free access to executive-level course on the history and future of organizations, which will debut on June 1, 2025. For other courses, members will receive a 50% discount.
Participating organizations
Over the last five years our speakers and attendees have included senior leaders from a “who is who” among leading organizations:
Invited Speakers
More than a hundred speakers have shared their thinking with our attendees, including the following:
Delivering Impact
Members of the Post-Industrial Forum are shaping transformation inside some of the world’s most complex organizations, and building ventures at the frontier of the post-industrial shift.
John Smith
Best community ever, changed my life! Also, the food is fantastic.
Smita Pandian
Best community ever, changed my life! Also, the food is fantastic.
Bob Johnson
Best community ever, changed my life! Also, the food is fantastic.
Manoj Sharma
Best community ever, changed my life! Also, the food is fantastic.
Partners:
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SRI (fmr. Stanford Research Institute)
SRI, which in 2023, also acquired PARC from Xerox, is one of the world’s preeminent research institutes. It was founded in 1946 as a spin-off from Stanford University. SRI performs client-sponsored R&D for government agencies, commercial businesses, and private foundations. It also licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships, and creates spin-off companies.
SRI pioneered AI Agents in the late 1960s, helped create the Internet, invented microsatellites, pioneered the computer mouse and the windows user interface, and developed the technology that led to Siri, an SRI spin-off that was acquired by Apple.
SRI hosts our events in Silicon Valley and also provides access to leading experts on a variety for exponential technologies.